World Environment Day 2024 came and went leaving a message that anybody can honour his/her mother by planting a sapling of Peepal tree.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi did the same on Wednesday ( June 5) by launching “एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम (Plant4Mother)campaign. He planted a sapling of Peepal Tree at Buddha Jayanti Park, New Delhi yesterday.

Nobody had ever conceived the Plant 4 Mother campaign. PM Modi began it by planting the sapling of the Peepal tree. But in Ranchi this was part of a passion for Santosh Kumar Satapathy, 1986 batch ( Retired ) IAS officer of Bihar turned Jharkhand cadre. 

Satapathy had planted scores of saplings of Peepal trees in Morahabadi and the state-run Oxygen park. Over the years, these saplings have grown and provide quality oxygen to people 24X7. I have been the witness and promoter of this plant - the Peepal campaign kick-started by Satapathy.

Drawing a parallel between the nurturing of Nature by Mother Earth and the nurturing of human lives by our mothers, Satapathy did it before Prime Minister Modi.

Now since PM Modi has exhorted people across the world to plant a tree as a mark of love, respect and honour for their own Mother, the campaign urges mother lovers to take a pledge to protect trees and Mother Earth. 

Central and State Government Departments and Local Bodies will also identify public spaces to assist the #एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम #Plant4Mother campaign.

Plantation of trees is central to the theme of World Environment Day 2024 namely halting and reversing Land Degradation, building Drought Resilience and Preventing Desertification. Besides the campaign on #एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम #Plant4Mother, plantation of 80 crore trees by September and 140 crores by March 2025 has been planned following a “Whole of Government” and “Whole of Society Approach”. 

The trees would be planted across the country by individuals, entities, community-based organizations, Central and State Government Departments and local bodies.   

The Department of School Education, Government of India has motivated Eco-clubs in 7.5 lakh schools to carry forward and promote the message of #एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम.  Summer camps in schools are focusing on the theme by integrating it with experiential learning, which is one of the core precepts of the New Education Policy.  

The importance of planting trees which nurture human beings and indeed, all living beings across the planet, the inter-relationship between tree, Mother and Mother Earth, would be especially emphasized through the idea of Plant4Mother.  

All the Environmental Information, Awareness, Capacity Building and Livelihood Programme (EIACP) Centres of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, as also its institutions such as BSI, ZSI, ICFRE, NMNH etc. will be actively engaged in promoting awareness about tree plantation as well as undertaking tree plantation efforts under the umbrella theme of #एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम.  

Other Ministries and Departments are also playing a significant role in taking forward the theme of #एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम.  Awareness in youth is being generated through MY Bharat of the Ministry of Youth Affairs.  The Ministry of External Affairs has also taken this message to the global level and exhorted citizens of other countries to join hands in this massive tree plantation drive with the core precept of #Plant4Mother. 

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, were also present on the occasion today.